Debacle in Vietnam a wake-up call
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s disastrous performance at the ongoing Asean Football Federation (AFF) futsal championship in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam should serve as a lesson for all involved in the game to move out of their comfort zone.
Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) vice-president Datuk Rosmadi Ismail said he was very disappointed with the team handled by Chiew Chun Yong, who lost all their three preliminary round matches and had to take an early flight home.
Malaysia lost 2-3 to Indonesia, 4-6 to Australia and 2-4 to Vietnam in Group B, thus failing to repeat their feat of advancing to the final last year and in 2017.
“We failed to realise our potential; we could have done much better. I admit that our participation was very disappointing,” said Rosmadi, who is also national futsal team manager.
“This tragedy for our national futsal squad is an ‘alarm-clock’ to the management, committee, coaching lineup, players and in fact, I myself. We can’t just go back home and say we have done our best,” he told Bernama recently.
Rosmadi, who is chairman of FAM Futsal and Beach Football Committee, said the futsal squad had to do some soul-searching if Malaysia were to rise again as a respected team in Asean.
Malaysia’s failure in Ho Chi Minh also means they could not qualify for the 2020 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) futsal championship final round in Turkmenistan next year.
— BERNAMA
